october 2009 issue
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The SUmmit Series
A Well-Navigated Career
GPS expert Dr. Mark Petovello, P.Eng., makes time for future scientists when he visits their classrooms. But there’s much more going on in this young achiever’s life
BY CHRISTINE COTTRELL
The PEGG
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OFT-AWARDED MEMBER |
His love of LEGO and Meccano were the early signs. Then there was that strong interest in math and science at school. Really, what other than engineering could the future hold for Mark Petovello?
Initially he studied civil engineering, but he later realized he would be happier in geomatics engineering.
These days, you can call him Dr. Mark Petovello, P.Eng., and while you’re at it note that this young APEGGA member is on a number of missions. He dedicates part of his packed schedule to challenging young minds to think about careers in science. Other times, he could be helping General Motors with its GPS technology — or he could be perusing the Calgary markets for produce for his next adventure in cooking.
Whatever is on his plate, Dr. Petovello gives it everything he’s got. “I’ve always been driven,” says the winner of the Early Accomplishment Award in the 2009 APEGGA Summit Awards.
Through his vice-chair position with the Institute of Navigation’s Alberta section, Dr. Petovello helps organize volunteers for classroom visits. Engineers, scientists and researchers bring their specialized knowledge to the Calgary Science Network’s Scientist-in-the-Classroom program, giving a hands-on experience to students on a variety of topics. “I act as a go-between, getting GPS professionals to volunteer their time.”
Navigating Through Life
He puts himself in the classroom, too. “I download satellite images of the school I’m visiting and show them to the kids. This always captures their attention.”
The budding chef loves to spend his weekends checking out farmer’s markets around Calgary. He uses recipes as a guideline only; hence, weekend meals are always an adventure for his fiancée, Samantha, as Dr. Petovello creates a gastronomical delight from whatever his visits to the markets offer up.
“I love to cook. Just don’t ask me to bake,” he warns.
When the weekend ends, the chef transforms into an assistant professor in the Department of Geomatics Engineering at the U of C. Dr. Petovello received his PhD in geomatics engineering in 2003, and for five years he was a senior research engineer in the university’s Position, Location and Navigation Group. In 2008 he became a faculty member.
He is dedicated to the research, development and improvement of wireless positioning and navigation technologies for outdoor and indoor use. From 2003 to 2005 Dr. Petovello led the U of C’s Joint Precision Approach and Landing Systems research team, a pilot project developed for the U.S. military.
JPALS, as it is known, is a system designed to automatically land military aircraft on aircraft carriers in all weather conditions. The system uses GPS signals measured aboard the airplane and the aircraft carrier, along with a secure data transmission, to land the aircraft safely.
Positioning Cars
Working with major automobile manufacturers, Dr. Petovello is researching low-cost, onboard sensors for centimetre-level positioning. He’s looking at how to compute the relative position of two or more vehicles. Further developments are communications using OnStar and StabiliTrak technologies.
Location and situation awareness are the current buzzwords for modern vehicles. They mean, essentially, that cars are starting to know where they are and where each other are.
More and more, the industry is developing standards and exchanging knowledge. Someday, all transportation — including infrastructure such as traffic lights — will be able to communicate and know what’s going on around it.
Even though Dr. Petovello is at the forefront of this new technology, he is modest about his career successes. To date he has received many accolades, among them the U.S. Institute of Navigation’s Early Achievement Award in 2006. He was also named one of GPS World Magazine’s 50+ Leaders to Watch in 2008.
His role as a contributing editor to Inside GNSS (Global Satellite Navigation Systems) is as a go-between. Rewording questions sent in to the publication, he then finds experts to answer the questions and edits their responses. In some cases Dr. Petovello acts as the expert and writes the answers himself.
The Future
Enthusiasm for science is still strong for this Alberta-born professional. He is working on new methods of generating accurate, more reliable and cheaper-to-produce global positioning software, which will be able to locate even those users under trees or inside structures.
It’s that type of enthusiasm everyone should have for their work. “To be honest, I tell the Grade 9 students the same thing I tell my undergrad and grad students: find a career you enjoy. Money may motivate you in the short term, but you will be much happier in the long term if you like what you do.
“Simple advice, but I don’t think it’s stated nearly often enough.”
The Early Accomplishment Award recognizes exceptional achievement in the early years of a professional career as an engineer, geologist or geophysicist.